Fidel Castro - SPEECH TO THE NATION FROM THE ROSTRUM OF THE NATION lyrics

Released by the Department of Public Relations, Ministry of State, Republic of Cuba, Havana, 15 December 1959, pp 1-48 On Tuesday, 15 December, the Prime Minister of the revolutionary government, Doctor Fidel Castro, spoke to the nation from the rostrum of the National Federation of Sugar Workers. The setting and the speech were of singular significance with regard to the current Cuban situation. The Federation, wisely headed by Conrado Bequer, was the first workers' organization to a**imilate the new spirit of the Cuban revolution, substituting a broad patriotic appeal for effort and sacrifice for the old economic thinking which was exclusively concerned with salaries. In the month of January the sugar workers postponed their demands and abandoned their immediate hopes in order to complete the harvest. They set no conditions, but set an example along the noble path of generosity. This policy, inaugurated in January, was confirmed in the last plenary session of the sugar workers, when an agreement to surrender 4% of wages as a contribution to the industrial development of the country was unanimously adopted. The words of the Prime Minister, exalting, the position of the sugar workers and their example of revolutionary fervor and clear national devotion, were both a message and a test. Faithful to a policy of sincerity, Fidel Castro appealed to the people for vigorous unity of action and feelings, in order to deal with the enemies of the fatherland. Department of Information, Publicity and Public Relations, Ministry of State *** Comrade Sugar Workers: I should like to thank the Congress for providing us with the opportunity of attending this opening session. I would not have wanted to be absent from this ceremony, for many reasons: because I have never failed to be present at the key events for workers, and also for another reason -- because this was the Congress of the Sugar Workers, because this was the first Federation, which in the early days of the revolutionary government, took a step forward and responded so admirably in those uncertain days, when the harvest was delayed, when Cuba most needed sugar, when it was most urgent to advance our production, and I can never forget that on that day, when we ask the sugar workers to put ahead of all their claims, however just they might be, the slogan of saving the harvest, because the country was in urgent need of the resources it would receive from sugar -- I can never forget the spirit of sacrifice and the faith with which the sugar workers embraced that slogan, abandoning all their claims, deciding not to strike, thanks to which it was possible to produce almost six million tons of sugar. That event was notable because it occurred at the very beginning of the revolution. In those days the atmosphere everywhere was confused. In those days there could not be the total identification which exists today between the workers and the revolutionary government. In those days it still remained to see what the conduct of the revolutionary government would be. In those days everything remained to be seen, and it had to be demonstrated that it was true that finally a truly honorable and revolutionary government would be established, because despite all, our people had suffered so many deceptions, such deceit, that although everyone was happy, not everyone was certain of the future. It remained to be seen if finally this beautiful reality had been achieved, if finally and for the first time we would see the realization of the dreams of the men who for more than a century fought for our fatherland, fought so that our people could be master of their fate, to have a worthy place among peoples of the world, and also to have a place in the history of the world. A Revolution in Truth And as there had been so long a fight, and as the effort had been frustrated so many times, it was almost essential "to see in order to believe." If you were to make this sacrifice you made almost a year ago today, it would not have the merit, it would not be of the same value as it was then, because today it is known what the revolutionary government is. Today the people have already seen, the people know that it is correct. Now, the people are not only happy, and not only nurture hopes, but are also certain that they have a revolutionary government. On that occasion it was necessary to come to beg the workers for confidence, to ask them for faith. It was not the same as speaking to you now, now that we see ourselves with greater confidence, not only with greater sympathy but with greater confidence as well. It was not on our side alone: we had confidence in the workers, and the workers had hopes of the government. Today the workers not only have hopes but also have confidence in the government. For this reason, it was necessary on that occasion to explain, and to persuade, because in those days, as you recall, everyone was with the revolution. And how could it be possible that everyone was with the revolution? Why? Some because they had hopes that this was a revolution in truth, and others because they hopes that it was a revolution of deceit. You will recall that everyone approved of the agrarian reform, and everyone even offered money for agrarian reform. There was a slight difference, a question of zeros, and not on the left. Everyone approved of the agrarian reform because there was a constitutional law which ordered the elimination of large landed estates and the establishment of the maximum land area for each type, for each farming enterprise, and everyone approved of this article in the constitution, everyone approved of putting a limit to the landholdings, but there was a difference of zeros. Some were fully in agreement with agrarian reform running to four zeros, that is to say, a 3 + 4 zeros. Agrarian reform which would establish a maximum of 30,000 caballerias of land meant a little more only than the holdings of some foreign companies in our country. Others were more drastic, and approved of agrarian reform running to 3 zeros, agrarian reform with a limit of 3,000 caballerias of land. Others were a little more radical and approved of agrarian reform running to two zeros, but the revolutionary government, an*lyzing the needs of our economy and our people, established agrarian reform involving one zero. There is almost no difference, a small matter of zeros. But in those days, many people were juggling with these little zeros. If the revolutionary government had undertaken agrarian reform running to four zeros, many people here among those who had land, particularly these companies, would have said that this was the most democratic, most just and most humane revolution in the world. But because of a simple matter of zeros, in fact, one only instead of four, they are saying that this was the most communist agrarian reform in the world. Times Are Different This was not a problem of ideology, nor of patriotism, nor of principles. It was a problem of zeros. If, with regard to rents, we had not taken a zero away from the owners of apartment buildings, and really it was not a zero, because all we took from them was half a zero, they would have said that this was the most democratic and most just revolution in the world, and that we were a group of sensible men, good governors, etc., etc. But for only one half a zero, what they want at the very least is for the war criminals and the band of a**a**ins who sacked and caused bloodshed in our fatherland should come back to rule again in our country. For a matter of half a zero less in their profits. And thus, this is the entire problem the revolution has today with those who were with the revolution, according t what they said, on 1 January and 5 January and 10 January,and even on 30 January, because they began to desert us here as of the time of the first revolutionary law, which lowered rents. It has all been a matter of nothing but zeros in the profits of some few. This has been the problem of the revolution, and it is why a part of those who were with the revolution in January are not still with the revolution now in December. For this reason, the times are different. In those days, everyone wanted a revolution in accordance with his thinking, that is, some wanted a false revolution, as always, and others wanted a true revolution such as we had never had. But, after all, this has served to educate the people. This year of revolutionary government has served to educate the people and, fortunately, although we are somewhat fewer, we have on the other hand a people with a much higher level of revolutionary awareness. And there are some things which it is almost gratifying to remember, for example, the role of some periodicals and what they said in those days. Everyone remembers what gems of support they gave the revolution. Because they were frightened at the idea that the revolution would take from them the checks they had received from the bloody hands of the tyranny. If we shake the tree, if we shake it well, I believe that we can purify the republic. Still there remains much for us to shake down. Little by little, and in some cases there is no need to shake the tree, because rotten fruit falls of its own accord. And we give thanks for some of these periodicals. What little shame they have! They Seek Foreign Intervention In those days, with that guilt complex, with that conscience loaded with sins, how meek, how good, how patriotic, how revolutionary they were! And now see them, today. It was enough to see them after the pa**age of only a few months, with a revolution which was so generous -- and all the people know this -- a revolution which was so generous that it did not want to shake the tree free of all those sins. Sins, yes -- the sin of selling one's conscience, of writing in favor of a bloody and plundering government, the sin of robbing the republic. And they insult so generous a revolution, they insult it as they never insulted any other government -- the honorable revolution, the loyal revolution, the clean revolution, the revolution which is taking care of the people -- they are insulting it as they never did the most thieving and the most criminal of governments. And this is not all. The worst is that while on the one hand they insult us, on the other, they claim that there is no freedom of expression. While on the one hand, they insult us and write things they never would have dared to write against corrupt, criminal and plundering governments, on the other hand, they carry daily dispatches from the Inter-American Press Association or other such organs saying that there is no freedom of expression in Cuba. And then, then still this is not enough, for they also are indignant when the government defends itself, when the government speaks, when the government answers, when they are not only insulting for the sake of insulting and slandering for the sake of slander, but are doing so in an effort to plunge the country into days of blood and struggle, slandering in order to open a narrow breach for the mercenaries and the criminals, for exploiting foreign interests to open the pathway to the country's aggressors, the invaders of the fatherland, to open the path for foreign intervention, for the game in which these periodicals are really engaged today is the game of the reactionaries, a conscious, premeditated, studied and deliberate attempt to promote foreign intervention in our fatherland. And for this reason they are trying to lead a government which for eleven months has done nothing but serve the interests of the people, as no other government ever served them, which has worked honorably for the people, as no other government has ever worked, to serve the interests of the country, as no other government ever did, into a situation where it will be the victim of aggression by the most negative and the most immoral anti-national interests. And this is why one no longer reads in any of these periodicals accusations other than that the revolutionary government is communist. And they do this in such a persistent and shameless way, that not a day pa**es, they do not rest a minute in this ruinous and miserable task, in this effort to sow confusion and doubt, to promote division, to weaken the revolution, so that the nation can be made a victim, in the midst of confusion, weakness and deceit, of foreign aggression. There can be no doubt that the purpose they are pursuing deliberately and with premeditation is of no other nature, and the people must be very aware of this. And the first thing we must ask is what they are seeking or trying to gain through this campaign, what do they imagine they can accomplish, what will they profit from this flood and lies and criminal and purposeful propaganda against the nation and against the government it represents. What will these priests gain -- these people who could never call themselves priests of Christ or priests of the truth, but are priests of treason and crime, who have gone to the United States, unmolested or threatened in any way but any one, to establish themselves there and to have themselves photographed with the traitor and criminal Pedro Luis Diaz Lanz, allied today with the worst war criminals an the worst anti-Cuban interests in his plans for aggression against our fatherland, and saying, as they have: "The Reverend Eduardo Aguirre, a Cuban priest who has come here seeking asylum, says that Fidel Castro plans to separate the Cuban church from the Vatican. He says that Castro has set forth this idea to members of the clergy informally. During an interview arranged by Tomas Milan, a Fort Lauderdale radio station reporter, Rev. Aguirre said: "He suggested that a national church independent of Rome be established." "This is what is done in communist countries to divide the church and weaken it." Rev. Aguirre said that he and another priest, Juan R. O-Farrill, came to seek political asylum and that they are the first Cuban Catholic priests to do so, it being their intention to denounce the Castro government as a communist dictatorship. He refused to name any of the clergymen with whom Castro spoke, stating that no true priest could do such a thing. Castro might found a church for himself, but the people would know that it was a church without priests. Cuba has about 7 million inhabitants and perhaps 90% are catholics. Others present at the interview included Pedro L. Diaz Lanz, who commanded the Cuban Air Force and fled to the United States and denounced the revolutionary government, saying that it was infected with communism. He and his comrade, said Rev. Aguirre, also fought with Castro. Cardinal Cushing was right when he spoke a short time ago of the silent church in Cuba. The priests cannot speak freely in Cuba now, and it was for this reason we fled. Before we worked with the revolutionaries to overthrow the dictator Fulgencio Batista, but the communists have been distorting the revolution for their own aims... Now it is dangerous for men with our ideals to remain in Cuba." Revolution and Religion Are Compatible And I ask you if these gentlemen can be priests of Christ? And I ask the people, I ask even the most impa**ioned of our enemies, our enemies because we undertook agrarian reform or because of any other of the revolutionary laws, I ask if this is just. I ask if this can be said after a Catholic Congress such as was held in Cuba, with every government facility, despite the fact that we knew, as all the people did, that there was a reactionary trend encouraged by the Diario de la Marina (Coastal Daily) and its followers which wanted to transform the Catholic Congress into a counterrevolutionary political gathering, although this trend was not the trend of the Catholics, but of a handful of reactionaries who wanted to appear as saints, halo and all, although they were but a few demons of a reactionary and counterrevolutionary nature, demons of egotism and exploitation, although this reactionary trend tried to turn an eminently religious ceremony which had nothing to do with politics, because this was a question of the religious faith and feelings of the people, into a political gathering, and although this reactionary trend encouraged by the Diario de la Marine, the periodical Advance (Advance) and the rest tried to create problems and conflicts between the political conscience and the religious conscience of the people. These two types of conscience can perfectly well exist together when they are based on justice, based on good. I do not believe there can be a single just measure in human society, not a single good work in the civil society of man, which is not based on a healthy and just religious conscience. If religions is the embodiment of the just and noble feeling, if it is the incarnation of a good idea, an ideal of good, the revolution is the incarnation of the most noble, most just principles of man. This is because the revolution battles the evil in human society, the revolution struggles against all those defects from which people suffer. It is only those who play the farce, only the hypocrites, only those whom Christ called the scribes and the Pharisees who attempt to turn religion into a tool serving egotistical, petty, and inhuman interests. The Tremendous Plot of the Alien Interests Then what reason and what justification can anyone find, after the respect which the revolutionary government has shown for all the religious institutions, such that even one of these priests -- and we have irrefutable evidence -- Mr. O-Farrill, because he does not deserve the name "father," nor to call himself a priest -- met with another in Santo Domingo, Mr. Velasco, a Trujillo messenger and his accomplice, and yet we, knowing of this fact and have irrefutable proof of this fact, since a priest was involved, and since we did not want the slightest friction with the church, and since we did not want to provide a slightest pretext for anyone to claim an act of hostility on the part of the revolutionary government, we stayed out of the matter and even refrained from any public statement. That is to say, we never even revealed this fact and now you see how the revolutionary government is repaid, now you see what they are doing, and I ask myself if this is just, I ask the people and all honorable men, and even those of our enemies who might have the virtue of being honest with themselves, if this is just. And what is being sought? To attract foreign aggression to our fatherland. This is the vast plot of the alien interests, and as we have our feet planted on the ground, as we know the strength the revolution has, I ask what the national reactionaries have as weapons with which to overthrow the revolutionary government? What chance do the foreign trusts have to overthrow the revolutionary government? And if they no longer can count on strength within the country, it is obvious that all their plans are based on foreign forces and foreign resources. And since the only way of trying to destroy the revolution is by force, and they do not have forces in the nation, however much deceit and confusion they may sow, what forces are they counting on, if not foreign forces? And if they cannot even remotely count on national resources, what sense is there in invoking foreign forces and foreign resources to destroy the revolution, when there could never be strength enough in the country to destroy it? What goal are they seeking thereby? They are seeking no goal than to destroy the fatherland, if this is necessary, rather than resigning themselves to the loss of their privileges. And the question I ask myself as a Cuban, the question we must all ask ourselves is whether even though they believe we are mistaken, even though they felt differently from us or believed that we think differently from them, even though they think the worst of us, even when they believe what they deceitfully say about the revolutionary government, what is ours is not a thousand times preferable, if the worst, although Cuban, is not a thousand times preferable. Anything is preferable to seeing the fatherland destroyed and trampled by the foreign boots. Anything is preferable to the spectacle of seeing our people in the trenches with the rebel soldiers, fighting to the last drop of their blood in defense of our national sovereignty. For we, when we take up arms, do not flee to pound at the doors of foreign powers, we do not flee in search of the support of foreign interests. We knew that our cause was just and we came to seek our support in the people, came to seek our support in the strength of the nation, we came to mobilize the resources of the nation, without stopping to consider how many of us there were or how many guns we had. We came to struggle against the tyranny without ever even considering the idea of mobilizing foreign resources, for if our revolution had not had the hope of the support of the people, it would be because it was not just. If our revolution, the revolution we propose to undertake, had not been able to hope to count on the people, it would have had no reason to exist, and only because there was a reason for it could it hope to count on the people, and could be accomplished. The Camps Defined When foreign resources are needed it is because one is not in the right. When one cannot hope to count on the people, it is because one is not in the right. When it is necessary to seek the support of foreign support and resources against the people, it is because one is not in the right. And when one is not in the right it is never possible to count on the people. For this reason, it is necessary to go abroad, like miserable traitors, to mobilize foreign resources and arms against the fatherland. And it is in this task that they are engaged, and no one should believe that the fact that two priests of any other citizen adopts this attitude is a simple happenstance. No, this is the task in which the Diorio de la Marina, the periodical Avance and the like have been engaging systematically and day after day. This is the task, deliberate and conscious, to which they are dedicated, because they know perfectly well what they are doing, they know perfectly well what they are proposing, and they are well aware of the consequences and the facts prove this, and they want these events repeated for which reason they say "the first." It is obvious that they hope that many other similar ones will occur, although what can they gain thereby? These events will only serve to reveal them for what they are, to open the eyes of the people, because the people can never justify such conduct. A priest who seeks asylum because he was tortured under the Batista dictatorship, and who goes now when the revolution has never had the slightest disagreement or difficulty with them, nor was any even mentioned, and who goes now to join with those who tortured him, to join the same forces which fought him -- what purpose does this serve if not to open the eyes of the people? And the revolutionary government hopes that to the honor of the church, the Catholic leadership and the ecclesiastical leaders in Cuba will answer him and tell the truth in the face of this change, with the international cable agencies have undertaken to broadcast all over the world, painting with revolutionary government as persecuting the religious ideas. For they could do nothing but invent in order to accuse us, even saying that we want to found a church, accusing us of wishing to separate a Cuban church from the church of Rome, as if the agrarian reform, the rents law and all the revolutionary measures had nothing to do with religious problem, as if it could interest us in any way to interfere with the religious feelings of anyone. We can never be hindered by religious feelings. What hinders the revolution is counterrevolutionary feelings, and the revolutionary government hopes that the ecclesiastical leaders will answer the imputations of these priests fully, who were even so disrespectful as to go against the statements of the ecclesiastical leadership in answer to a US Cardinal who stated that the revolutionary government had seized religious property. For it has been some time now that they have used every maneuver, obviously trying to create this problem, for they cannot find anything to cling to in combating the revolutionary government. And it is under these conditions that we are ending the first year of revolutionary government, with some fewer of us, but with a much more aware people, and this is why we say to you that the gesture made last February by the sugar workers was a much worthier one than had it occurred today, when the Cuban workers had had the apprenticeship of the year of revolutionary government. This means that the camps have been perfectly clearly defined here, and the workers are not concerned in the same way that they were before, because they know that we are not defending interests contrary to theirs. An Effort to Confuse the Workers It is curious, as the Minister of Labor has stressed, that these organs which have always been opposed to the interests of the workers are not agitating under the slogan of the salary differential. It is curious that when there is no differential, precisely because of the low price of sugar this year, lower than in any of the preceding years, these same periodicals, which have never defended any of the interests of the workers, are talking, in order to create problems for the revolutionary government, of a differential when none exists, because if there were one, who here can doubt that we would some time ago have given it to the workers? And would that there had been a differential of 10 cents per pound on sugar, so that we could already have given it to the workers. And if we needed the workers' money, it was not to put it in the pockets of the great industrial mandates. No, if we needed the workers' money, if there had been a differential, if this money is needed in the future, we will ask the workers for it. With what bad faith these reactionary elements act, approving a differential when there is none! It is strange that they should defend the workers so now, to see if they can create doubt and problems. It is curious that they speak of a differential now, why do they not talk of agrarian reform? Why do they not speak of the "little holdings" of the great landowners, of the great foreign companies, which have thousands of caballerias of land? Why do they not support agrarian reform? Why do they not speak out in favor of the distribution we are making? Why do they not talk in favor of intervention in the large landholdings? Because there is no differential, but there is indeed much land in large holdings to help the sugar workers, yes, to aid the farm workers and the sugar industry. Why do they not speak of the thousands of caballerias held by foreign companies? Why do they not write articles promoting agrarian reform? And yet they never speak of these things. This means that it is in the interests of these impudent people to see how much confusion they can create, but the workers are clearer than ever. And it is precisely this which pains them. What has this first year of revolutionary government been like? When has there been such peace in the country? When has there been such order? When has there been fewer strikes and social problems? What is the reason for this year of greater peace and order, fewer strikes and social conflicts? The identification which exists between the workers and the revolutionary government. When they began to combat agrarian reform they said that production would drop, that agrarian reform was a disaster which would ruin production and they even said that Cuba would not manage to fill its sugar quota. A year has pa**ed and those statements were false, and it is very evident that we can produce the sugar we are turning out currently, and the double if we wish. When just the contrary of what they said would happen occurred, when instead of lacking sugar to meet the quota, we have more than enough, and after telling us we would not be able to produce the quota, now that we have shown that we can produce the quota or more, they talk of removing the quota. That is to say, first, they said that we would not meet the quota because of this awful agrarian reform, and now that this has proven false, when it is obvious that we can meet the quota, now they say the contrary -- that we can product it, but the quota should be removed. This is a proof of how unjust the arguments against the revolution have been, how false these arguments have been, because between the beginning of the year and the end of the year they have claimed two drastically different things, because they were wrong, since-the original claim has proven false. But this is not all, for if the agrarian reform has not yet been able to move faster, do you know why this is? Because of the steel strike in the United States. Production Increase This means that they said first that agrarian reform would decrease production, because it would completely upset the organization of agriculture, but the fact is that if agrarian reform has not moved more rapidly, it has not been our fault, but because of the social conflicts existing in the United States. And while there has been no strike in Cuba, the strikes in the United States have prevented our agrarian reform from advancing more rapidly. This means that once again they were mistaken. Agrarian reform not only guaranteed the sugar quota, but there is more than enough cane, and not only is there a surplus of cane in the country, but we have produced a million and a half more quintals of rice, we have produced more than a million quintals of corn and we have planted 400 caballerias of cotton. Next year we will have begun the cultivation of 20,000 caballerias of land more in crops. And if the agrarian reform has not advanced more rapidly, it was because of the strike -- but curiously, not here! In the United States there was no agrarian reform, but there have been strikes. In Cuba, we have had revolution and agrarian reform, and yet there have been no strikes. Strikes disturb production. Why? Because days of work are lost and days of work lost mean lower production t the end of the year, because if 70 days are lost in strikes, this means 70 days less of production. If work is done all the year, production is higher. And in Cuba, where there is a revolution, and which is where precisely they would like it believed that the revolution is in difficulties, the fact is that there have been no strikes and for this reason, production in Cuba this year has been greater than ever, because there were no strikes. On the other hand, in the United States, where there was no revolution, nor agrarian reform, there were strikes and a drop in production, including that of steel, and there was a drop in tractor production in the United States, and because of that, agrarian production in Cuba dropped. Elimination of All Forms of Plunder I wish that someone would answer these arguments, and explain why there were no strikes in Cuba. Were there no strikes by chance because the revolutionary government prohibited strikes? Was it perhaps because the revolutionary government suspended the right to strike? No, and the extraordinary aspect of this fact is that there were no strikes despite the fact that the workers had the right to strike, despite the fact that the revolutionary government did not prohibit strikes, despite the fact that the revolutionary government did not persecute the workers. This means that the extraordinary fact is that there were no strikes precisely because the workers did not want to strike, precisely because the workers wanted production to increase. Although it is said that this is not a democratic government, that it is a bad government, that it is so contrary to the interests of the country, nonetheless the workers themselves, freely and spontaneously, did not want to strike, because they are aware that a day lost is a day's production lost, and because they know, moreover, that they do not need to strike because they have a revolutionary government which will always do what is just. They know that they have a revolutionary government which sees to their interests and that what this revolutionary government wants is to raise the standard of living of the humble cla**es is our country. Thus, if the revolutionary government does not raise this standard of living one point more it is because it cannot, not because it does not want to. It is because it is aware of our current economic situation. It is aware that we are an underdeveloped country which must develop, that is, we have a government which is not demagogic, because Cuba would be lost today with a demagogic government, without a serious, responsible, just government, one eternally watching over the interests of the people, one whose main goal is to raise the standard of living of the humble cla**es in the country, a government which did away forever with plunder here -- not only plunder of the public treasury, because it should not believe that this was the most important type of plunder eliminated here. No, there were other kinds of plunder -- that of the speculators and that of professional gambling, the plunder of those who paid two or two and a half pesos for a product to the peasants, in order to sell at six cents per pound -- and not only the robbery of the public treasury. We did away with many other kinds of plunder, and if one remains here, no one should be concerned, because sooner or later we will do away with it, too. This is to say that the revolutionary government, after the reestablishment of all trade union rights, after reestablishing the right to strike, the right to parade on 1 May, the right to choose leaders, after restoring all the workers' rights, could count on their spontaneous and free support, and this attitude on the part of the workers freely and spontaneously avoided strikes. Can this be a bad government? When there is greater social peace in our country? When there is greater calm in agriculture and industry? And, how strange that this has occurred in the midst of a revolution and in the midst of agrarian reform! What moral right have they to criticize us, those who have not been able to resolve the social conflicts in their own countries? What moral right have they to fight us, to promote revolution against us, if they have not been able to resolve the social problems in their own countries, while we on the other hand are resolving social conflicts in our homeland. We are not only solving labor problems, but other which go way back, such as the stain of racial discrimination, which by means of an educational process, a process of training consciences, by persuasive measures, we have been eliminating. This is a task which other countries have still not been able, after many more years of existence than our republic, to resolve. What moral right have they to promote revolutions against us, when we are not only resolving social conflicts resulting from economic problems, but also age-old prejudices, like the problem of racial discrimination? One Hundred Million More for the Workers Then can a government be doing badly which has not only increased agricultural and industrial production, has resolved social conflicts and is resolving the greatest difficulties in the midst of a revolution, despite slander, despite counter-revolutionary campaigns, one which has not even prohibited open opposition of the revolution, open slander of the revolution, open writings against the revolution and open promotion of foreign intervention in our country? Without using violence, without committing a single act against human rights, without perpetrating the slightest action against human dignity -- for who had been tortured in this year of revolution, who has been attacked by the public forces, what crimes has the revolutionary government committed, what plundering has there been in the revolutionary government, what treason has been committed against the interests of the nation by the revolutionary government? What, then, has the revolutionary government done but to resolve the problems of the country, to advance in the midst of a crisis in the sugar price, in the midst of campaigns, when our monetary reserves were exhausted, because certainly the revolution came to power when the economic situation in the country was more difficult? And the revolutionary government, despite this, has still been able to increase the income of the workers by more than a hundred million, a hundred million more in wages. The workers have higher income than when the sugar prices were highest, income not only in terms of salary increases, but income resulting from lower housing ranks and lower costs of other articles of popular consumption, an increase in income produced by putting an end to the activities of the speculators. This means that despite the fact that the revolution came to power when the economic situation of the country was the worst, when there were the least reserves in the national bank, when prices and exports of sugar were lower, despite these adverse circumstances, the revolutionary government, facing up to these difficulties with determination and courage, has not only resolved social conflicts, not only battled age-old evils, not only established ten thousand schools, not only increased agricultural production, not only increased industrial production, but also it has raised the standard of living of the workers, distributed land among the peasants, provided greater employment, constructed more public projects than ever -- and this without attacking the human rights of anyone, without torturing anyone, without attacking anyone, without maltreating anyone, without violating the rights of the human individual -- that is to say, in the midst of a climate of respect such as never existed before, in the midst of a climate of freedom which never existed before, in the midst of a climate of confidence which never existed before in our fatherland. Who can deny it? And yet, never has there been such a campaign as is being waged against Cuba, never were such maneuvers organized when our compatriots were being murdered here, no one organized such campaigns, no one told the tourists not to come when men were being tortured savagely in the police stations, when the young people were found murdered in the streets, when the people were suffering in the midst of a revolutionary convulsion, no one organized a tourist boycott, and yet now that peace is greater, now there is not a single policeman who fails to respect each citizen or who robs anyone, or who demands cigarettes of anyone whatsoever, now that not a single human right is violated, when our people feel confident, when our peasants do not have to live in terror of the Rural Guard or the threat of the machete, when the people do not have to live under this terror and this fear of seeing persecutors in the street, or hired ruffians planning to murder the citizenry, when happiness and confidence is greater, why shouldn't any worker feel confident, any peasant, any humble man or man of the people feel confident when he sees a rebel soldier, and why should he not feel the comforting sensation of knowing that this armed and uniformed man is his friend? When our people are most happy, when the workers can parade on 1 May, when they can meet in their factories and in the trade unions without being attacked, shot or persecuted, when there are no gunmen or gang members imposing their will on the workers, when the workers and the peasants and the students not only feel safe, but have ceased to be the persecuted and become the defenders of the nation, no longer the victims of the armed men, for it is the workers, students and peasants themselves who are the armed men who defend their rights and their fatherland. When these facts have become beautiful realities, which never occurred before in our country, why should there be a boycott against tourists and why should tourists be told not to come to Cuba? When the beaches are no longer for the few, when the beaches on our beautiful coasts are beaches for all Cubans, when the fields in our countryside are not the fields of the few, but the fields of all our peasants, when there is greater order, more respect, more happiness on the part of our people, why should we advise tourists to come, and yet they were discouraged when the people here were being tortured and murdered in the streets, when the workers could not meet in their trade unions nor parade on 1 May, when the peasants lived in compounds, in their humble huts, without a single inch of earth to sow, when those with colored skins could not bathe in the sea because they were persecuted, when humble men, white or black, could not go to our beaches, when our peasants did not have these thousands of schools which are being built, when the fortresses were garrisioned by armed regiments hostile to the people and there were no schools such as that in Camaguey which now shelters 5,000 students, and when the fortresses, such as that of the Military City, are being converted into a Higher Cultural Center and a Technical Institute which will prepare the engineers and technicians in general the country needs for its progress and development, when these beautiful realities are occurring in our fatherland? Questions to the Reactionaries Why tell tourists not to come to Cuba? Is it perhaps that they fear they will see what a happy people are like, is it perhaps that they will see what a just revolution is, is it perhaps that they fear that the example of Cuba will become an example in the US? And why, while these beautiful realities exist in our country, instead of tourists would they rather send planes loaded with bombs and ships carrying mercenaries and war criminals charged with crimes? Why, if they cannot count on the people? And why do they incite attack from abroad? Why do they slander the revolution? Why do they urge intervention in our fatherland from foreign countries, why do they incite the interests opposed to Cuba, when for the first time the Cubans are masters of their land, when for the first time the Cubans have a true fatherland, when for the first time Cubans are thus masters of their density, when for the first time the Cubans are free, when for the first time, the Cubans can choose their own path, when for the first time the fatherland is not a barracks, a landed estate, or a colony, when for the first time the fatherland is free and our workers are free? What right have they to write an article entitled "Democracy Made in Moscow," written in the libelous journal which receives so much money from the bloody dictator? What right has he to write "Democracy Made in Moscow" who wrote not a word when the hired ruffians were a**a**inating the workers and imposing their terror. Avance -- what is it? And who is this Mr. Jorge Zayas, who said not a word when Mujal's hired thugs imposed terror upon the workers for seven years, when he said not a single word when the workers' rights were being miserably sold and the workers were not allowed even to parade on 1 May? What right had he, while the CTC [Central de Trabajadores de Cuba -- Cuban Workers' Organization] was carrying out its duty, the order of the National Congress, which was the expression of the will of the delegates representing all the workers of Cuba, to eliminate the counterrevolutionaries from the Cuban workers' movement, because the fatherland is in danger, and the fatherland needs defenders, and it needs loyal men, and not those in whom it is not possible to have confidence because history does not permit confidence in them, and when the CTC carrying out this order of the democratic and majority representation of the workers' of Cuba, citing those who because of their past conduct, because of their shameless photographs in which they appeared with war criminals, because of their friendship with blood thirsty men who sacrificed the lives of the worker and the lives of young people, fulfilling the mandate and valiantly confronting the obstacles encountered in the elimination of these elements whose conduct did not permit their trust of the workers -- what right had he to write against the CTC in this libelous article, a string of slanders under the title "Democracy Made in Moscow," when he wrote nothing against Eusevio Mujal and his dictatorial and treasonable methods, against this tyrant of the workers' cla**, during seven years of bloody tyranny, when he wrote not a word, what right have such people to write "Democracy Made in Moscow".? We Speak in Spanish and in Cuban However, it is logical that they no longer speak Spanish, it is natural that they no longer use Spanish, because it has been a long time that these gentlemen have been speaking only English. One does not talk of such a sell-out policy, of such servility, in Spanish. And it is good to say that here we speak in Spanish and in Cuban, while they there speak in English. What justification is there for this campaign of slander? What right is there, when Cuba is giving evidence to a fact which has no precedent, when Cuba is taking action which has no equal in the annals of our history? When the workers, and not the best paid workers, not the workers who are employed all the year, but the workers who work only some months of the year -- we mean the sugar workers,in the industry and agriculture, the workers who have a lower standard, the workers whose lives involve more sacrifice -- spontaneously and unanimously agree to surrender 4% of their income for the economic development of the country? When these events are occurring in our fatherland, when we are witnesses to this spectacle of unselfishness in which the workers get to set forth ten revolutionary slogans and to sacrifice from their salaries, their modest and inadequate salaries, 4% to turn it over and make their considerable contribution to the sacrifice in the fatherland we are building, when examples such as these can be seen in our fatherland, what right have they to appeal for intervention from abroad in our country? When a people are making such sacrifices spontaneously, not because the government issues a law which forces them to surrender this 4%, but because the workers freely and spontaneously decided upon it, what right has anyone to hinder the efforts this people is making so heroically for a better destiny? Certainly that moment at which the executive board of the Sugar Workers' Federation handed to us the resolutions containing this agreement by all the sugar workers unions in Cuba, this moment was without a doubt one of the most glorious and promising in the history of our fatherland, because this was one of the most intelligent and most revolutionary gestures which has been made by the workers' cla**, possibly in any country in the world. This action in which the workers deprived themselves of part of their income to invest it in the development of the economy of the country is possible a unique action in America, and one which gives our people the right to a great future, to enjoy a better fate. Toward A More Developed Economy The workers will not lose this 4% of their income. It is like the seed which is sown, the seed which instead of being consumed is planted, because the worker will receive not only the benefits of a higher standard of living when the economy of our country develops, when all of the labor force is producing, but he will receive that some 4% twice over, or 3 or 4 times over, if he waits 20 years. This means that the workers who are today surrendering 4% for industrialization will not only enjoy the benefits of a better developed economy, as their children will, too, but they will also receive the benefits of greater production, because this 4% will be 8% in years, 6% in 5 years, and 12% or 16% in 20 years, that is to say, for each peso he will receive 2 in 10 years, and 4 in 20. Since it is precisely a loan which the workers are making, the government pays compound interest at 7-1/2% approximately, which quadruples the money in 20 years, because the habit of the people here was to keep their money in banks. The banks invested and received interest, and now, with the People's Savings Certificates, the people directly receive an interest which is high, because it is not interest paid to a middleman, but interest paid to the people. To us, it is not important if a peso today will be two within 10 years, it is not important if a peso today will be 4 within 20 years, because within 10 years our production will be more than doubled, and within 20 years, our production will be more than quadrupled. And for a peso today, the nation can pay back two in ten years, or 4 in 20, because its production will multiply, and there will be goods which the worker can buy with his money, since the solution to the problems of the country, the raising of the standard of living, is not a question of distributing pesos, because if we distributed 500 million pesos today, tomorrow we would be ruined. The republic will be ruined, because either no goods would be left or the prices would be multiplied by 10 or 20 gimes, because pesos can be redistributed, but the goods and the products existing on the national market cannot be increased or multiplied overnight. And then, we would either have to import and spend the money we have for importing machinery, or we would not import them and those existing in the country would be exhausted or their price multiplied many times. Thus, it is very clear that the nation is confronted with a problem of multiplying its production and that to do so we must invest today in order to be able to enjoy the benefits of this investment tomorrow. It is like the man who sows a seed instead of consuming it, and at the end of a certain time he gathers the harvest of this seed he sowed. And this is what you are doing now, sowing the seed of a better future. You all know that of this 4% you will not lose a cent. You all know that this contribution will be invested and that the little seed will be multiplied many times, and this will not be to the profit of private groups, but to the benefit of the entire people. It will not serve to profit private interests, but to profit the people as a whole. The Lamentable Privileges of the Past For this reason, in having reached the point where our workers understand this, on having achieved this degree of revolutionary awareness, the workers' cla** has given evidence of insuperable capacity and intelligence, and has provided an eternal lesson to those who denied culture to our people. That is to say, rather than culture, sufficient political awareness to understand these problems. This awareness was not acquired in the universities, this awareness was not taught to our people by the teachers. It was forged in labor, this awareness was forged by sacrifice, by that great teacher which is pain, that great teacher which is injustice, that great professor, hunger, because only suffering and injustice could teach to our people what they could not learn in the universities or schools, because our people did not have schools within their reach, nor universities. The universities were for the privileged minorities, and it was only exceptionally that one or another was able to overcome the obstacles which stood in the way of a man without resources who wanted to study for a profession. Access to the universities was not allowed on the basis of talent, but of privilege, it was not a question of being intelligent or having a talent, but first of all, having money, and for this reason we have to deal today with the consequences in terms of the educated, who are not exactly the children of humble families. The educated, for the most part, are the children of the powerful families, and for this reason I say that if we shake the tree well, that is, if we are able to shake out all the reactionaries in the state, you can be sure we will purify the republic, because unfortunately there are few revolutionaries among the privileged cla**es. I am speaking the truth, because I am neither a demagogue nor a hypocrite, and I am stating this truth, although it means a little more time for you to remain here, if you will do the honor of hearing me now, because the great truth is that the state is infected with reactionaries, this is the great truth, and I would cease to be an honest man if I did not say so. Among the men who had the privilege of going to the universities, there are many reactionaries, and there is a logical explanation for this, because access to cultural centers was not within the reach of the humble man. If you wish an example, I am one. I was the only one of several hundred boys to be able to go to the university, and I was the only one because I was the only privileged youth among those hundreds. I, the privileged one, could go to the university, but no son of a carter, a cane cutter, or a worker on that estate could go, either to the university, or even to the institute, and it is very possible that few reached the fifth grade, because there they had only a small school to which the children did not even go because they lacked shoes and clothing. And these hundreds of boys did not have the slightest chance to go to a university, and I believe that this example is rather eloquent. And if among the hundreds of boys only one had an opportunity to go to the university, no one can dispute that going to the university was a privilege of those who had resources. And what happened there must have happened in many other places in Cuba. What happened there, and the sugar workers, particularly the agricultural sugar workers are well aware of it, was what happened in all the parts of Cuba. The sons of the landowners could go to the university, but not the sons of the cart drivers. Then, when the time had come for placing the men whom the state had trained in the universities as technicians, those who were educated came from the ranks of the privileged cla**es. And this is the problem we have with the rebels. Who are they basically, if not peasants who unfortunately did not have a chance to go to the universities, and when the triumph of the revolution came, they were men who had been brave, who had been useful in war, because they had the virtues needed in war, but we could not use them in peace time work. If only we had been able to put one of these revolutionary native sons in each key government post, in each key state project, in each important state center, how we could have shaken the tree! How we could have shaken it, if the native sons from our fighting columns had been university doctors! But because they were not, although many times we can use a commander at the head of a project, many of these peasants have had to be kept in reserve, because now they know how to fight, but they are not yet doctors. We have them here, with their guns ready, able to defend the work of the revolution whenever necessary while we rebuild the life of the country in such a way that every talented young person, however humble his origins, can become a technician. And for this reason, one of the measures we are going to undertake involves not only the building of school cities, but we are going to establish 50 rural secondary teaching centers, so that from each of the 10,000 little schools we are creating in the country, the most intelligent child can be given, as a reward for his talent and his effort, the opportunity to go to a secondary center and from there to the university. Secondary Education in the Rural Sector For this reason, we are going to create these secondary centers for 20 caballerias of land each, so that these humble students cannot only study, but also be self-sufficient there, and the state can cover the costs, for there, in the secondary centers, they will not have to pay, but will receive books, teaching and food, clothing and all care and they themselves will aid in such a way that while they study they work and cultivate this land to contribute to their self-sufficiency. And for this reason, we are going to build not only these basic secondary educational centers, but we are going to build school cities and now the rebel soldiers are building the first one on the slopes of the Sierra Maestra. It will accommodate 20,000 children and will have 500 caballerias of fertile land for their supply. And this school city will be completed, according to the pledge of honor made by the Las Villas Tactical Forces, which are building this school city, by 26 July 1962. It will consist of 35 units of 530 children, with 105 sports fields, or rather not 105, because there will be 105 for polota, and 105 for other sports. There will be 310 sports fields in all, and all the necessary installations, including stadiums, a museum, a zoo, hospitals and laboratories. Around all these units, near the units for the older children, there will be plants where they will produce many of the articles they consume. And beyond the plants will be the 500 caballerias of crop land. There, the students will not only study, but they will also learn to work, such that the older students will not only study but will work as well, because one cannot train the mind or fill it with theoretical knowledge if one does not teach something else which is very important -- learning to work. This means that the younger children will study and the older ones will work. This center will be the greatest and most complete in the world, the first. We have planned to reserve nine other areas to build nine other school cities after we have made the first experiment, the first city which is being built by the rebel soldiers. This means that the rebel soldiers are not only turning over their fortresses, but they have also gone to build school cities. And if the plan is carried out in full, we will have in addition to all the fortresses which are being converted into school cities, 10 school cities with a capacity for 200,000 children of workers and peasants. They will enroll there at 8 years and will graduate at 17 or 18, with the opportunity of enrolling in the universities, and they will receive there the most complete education, such as is not provided in any educational center in Cuba -- more complete and broader still than that provided by any educational center in Cuba. And thus the son of the carter, the son of the cane cutter, the child of the most humble family will have an opportunity which only the privileged had before. And every intelligent child of the small public schools will have an opportunity to go the rural secondary educational centers, and any one of the dozens of thousands of young people entering the school cities,if they have talent and the will, will have the opportunity to go to the universities, and then, within a few years, the revolution will have revolutionary technicians. Then the government will function better and the republic will advance faster. By this I do not mean to say that all the professional people are reactionaries. I am saying that a sizeable portion is and that another part is revolutionary, but it is my duty to speak the truth, and the truth must be spoken in full measure, that is, not by halves. How was it? Not by halves, but it must be stated in full measure, and there will be professional people listening to me, and many of them will say that it is true, because I am only speaking the truth. Some times it happens that we need a professionally trained person to send to the rural sector, and there is none. What is sadder still, sometimes we need a professor to send to the rural sector, and there is none, and the truth must be spoken, whomever it may hurt or wound. Is it not possible for a professional person to be a revolutionary? Certainly, I believe that he can be one and it is his obligation to be, because he has had the opportunity to gain an education which it is his duty to use for the good of his people. But if we wish to establish the foundations for a better future, we must begin now, and for this reason the people must be daily more aware that being a revolutionary is not an easy task, that a revolution is not completed overnight, and that a revolution is a long and hard path, if we truly want a better destiny. We Are Not Working to Wage Propaganda If only this had been done 50 years ago, if at the end of the War of Independence the government had fallen into Cuban hands, revolutionary hands, if since then schools had been built instead of barracks, if since then, if instead of rural guards serving as the defenders of the landowners and the foreign companies an army had been organized like that we are organizing, as the friend of the people, defender of the people, and creator of services and goods for the people, if instead of entrusting the defense of the nation to mercenaries, it had been entrusted not only to an army which was a friend of the people, but to the people themselves, if instead of an army serving the interests of landowners and foreign companies we had had an army to defend the people jointly with the native sons, the workers and the students, instead of an army against the people, instead of an army against the natives, instead of an army against the workers, how different life in our fatherland would be today! How different the situation of our families would be! There would not be a single family living in a miserable hut, there would not be a single Cuban without work, and we would have technicians by the thousands, every last inch of earth would be producing, and our fatherland would have today a standard of living like no other people on earth. But we had fortresses instead of school cities, soldiers who were enemies of the people not friends, we had barracks instead of schools, and as a result, we have reached this moment in the history of our fatherland, 50 some years after the day independence was declared. Under these adverse conditions, we must undertake to build everything. And we must devote ourselves to this task, because no one completed it for us, but we on the other hand must do it not thinking so much of ourselves but of those who will come after us. And those who do will be better than we thanks to us. They will live better than we do, thanks to this generation. And not only must this task be carried forward, not only must it be accomplished against great obstacles, but also we must defend it. When a few days ago I met with these rebel soldiers who are building the first school city -- a work which has not been publicized in the periodicals, nor need it be, because we are not working to wage propaganda, I saw the old schools and little buildings built on the edge of the highways, which it provokes shame and indignation to see, built boldly as they were for propaganda purposes. We are not working for the purpose of show and a very curious thing happens, and I have seen it even among intimate comrades in the government who have seen in certain works, and said in surprise: "But I knew nothing about it, nothing! How is it that nothing is known of it?" And I thought somewhat philosophically, from the psychological point of view it is perhaps even better thus, for if much publicity is given something, later no one is impressed. It is better even for no one to know anything, and then there is surprise when the projects are seen. And when I visited this project which is the school city and saw there the rebel soldiers full of enthusiasm, working up to 9, 10 and 12 hours -- I arrived at night and I found them placing the stones of one of the buildings at something like 9 P.M., because this work cannot be interrupted. The day before I had visited Manzanillo, where there is a rebel battalion doing sewerage work and preparing the ground for the building of the Fishing City. In another place were rebel soldiers in the block plants preparing to build houses for the peasants, and currently there are thousands and thousands of soldiers working, but when I saw the enthusiasm of those who are building the school city, and saw how much they are in love with the project, I thought that when the time to fight comes, those soldiers will be better still, for they have a clear and precise awareness of the good they are doing. And when they think that the foreign mercenaries and invaders might perhaps, or certainly, convert these buildings being built with such love for the sons of the peasants, into barracks, they will know that these soldiers will have to k** them to destroy their work, they will have to liquidate them, for in the trenches where they are fighting they will be thinking of the project they left behind and which is waiting for them, of the project which the enemies of the revolution want to destroy, of the project that those who intend to convert the fortresses we are making into schools back into military establishments again, want to destroy. And these soldiers will be better, simply because they feel useful to the republic. Those soldiers in the old army, what reason had they to fight except to defend the millions and the palances of their commanders, except to defend the landowners and the foreign companies, except to defend murderers and thieves? However, this army, like this people of ours, has a very great and beautiful work to defend, and therefore, it would be good for those who dream perhaps on a summer night that the past might return, that the criminals might return, that foreign domination of our fatherland might come again, to think of these things, because our people and our soldiers have a very great and very beautiful work to defend. And, our people and our soldiers, in order to defend the land, and in order to defend this work, will cling to the soil of the fatherland, a land which they cannot take over while there is still one Cuban left to defend it. Who Says That They Will Burn Our Cane? For this reason I have faith in the revolution, because of these things we witness with our eyes, because of these events which only the blind and the egotistical cannot see, but which leap to the eye of our people, because they see soldiers abandoning the fortresses to turn them over to the children and plunging into the task of building, not new fortresses, but new schools, because they see workers giving a part of their income for the development of the country, with no one asking them to do so, because they see things such as these -- that is why I have daily greater faith and confidence in our revolution, although it makes those who are impotent in the face of these facts sick with malice and anger, so that they demand foreign forces and resources to come and reestablish their privileges. For this reason I have full and absolute confidence that the revolution will advance and that no one can hinder it. Now we are going to begin the harvest. What amazing predictions we have as it begins! How different the situation is from that other harvest which began late, from that time when we came to make that dramatic appeal to the workers. This year we will begin the harvest early. And who says that we will not have a harvest? Who says that they will burn our cane? What cane? That of the owners of the land where we are going to organize the cane cooperatives next year. What cane? The cane where our workers ware going to give their support. The cane which will be that of our peasants, the cane from which foreign exchange will come, with which we will buy equipment and factories. Who said that the saboteurs and counterrevolutionaries are going to burn the cane? Who says they are going to prevent the harvest and sabotage the harvest and burn the cane with our peasant patrols on guard? Who says it is possible to sabotage the harvest with 500,000 agricultural and industrial workers defending it! Who says they can prevent the harvest when we have such a formidably united and organized federation as the National Sugar Workers' Federation? Last year the slogan was to complete the harvest. This year it is to defend the harvest. We will see who will burn the cane, because the cane this year will be defended not by a pair of rural guards. It will be defended by 500 pairs of peasants in every sector. Gradual Mobilization of the People Let them come with a small plane to burn the cane, because we will put out the cane with the machetes, and we will make fire barriers, and we will put out the fire and use fire-fighting measures and take every possible step. Let them set fires with planes. It does not matter, because we will defend the cane with the machetes even though they drop incendiary bombs. For if the machetes do not serve to fight, and if they cannot reach a plane, at least they can reach the fire. Thus, if they burn with planes, we will put out the fires with the machetes, even if it k**s us. It does not matter if they have bases at many points and there is one thing which is very important, and I must stress this to the people, and to the workers, because it is a thing which concerns us. Does anyone know that what concerns us more than any little invasion which may be in preparation is not the invaders? The invaders will last as long as "a meringue in a school boy's room." What concerns us is that all the people may go crazy an leave their work and factories, coming to beg for guns, because this would create terrible disorganization for us. This must be done little by little. This is very important. Gradually we are training the first groups. We do not have sufficient personnel for the training of all the workers yet. We are already training the first groups among the peasants. We are giving a 45-day course and there are already 200 of them. Those enrolled paraded on 7 December in Cacahual, and with a martial comportment and discipline which was the admiration of the people. And this, naturally, is a program which takes time. For this it concerns us that if there is any such situation, the people will all come to beg for guns to fight. This cannot be: it is necessary to be calm. It is very important that production not be halted for anything. We will continue to mobilize the people to the extent that we need them. Everyone wants a gun, naturally, but we must proceed little by little. We must advance rapidly, and the important thing is that production, neither in the harvest nor in the industry, nor in transport or in anything be interrupted for anything. Everyone hopes he will be called up. If necessary, we will call up the people, depending on the nature of the struggle, because two or three hundred invaders can be dealt with easily. It depends on the kind of invasion. Everyone must be always ready. I imagine that we will have to fight a battle here at least once a year, speaking optimistically. The situation is intolerable for the enemies of the revolution. They see that it is stronger every day, and that it is supported by the work which the revolutionary government is doing. Every day it has greater strength in the people and the awareness of the people is awakening more every day, while the beaches on the surrounding countries are full or exiled war criminals and counterrevolutionaries, and more are joining them daily. And you will hear many "rumors" currently, and talk of expeditions and things like that. But be calm, because the trust is that I have seen the people, and they are not concerned that they will come, but rather the concern is that they will not come. Everyone is confident here. Everyone is certain of what will happen when they come. They hardly have anything left to do but come, because on the other side, they are costly guests, and here they have some status as counterrevolutionaries. Here their slogan is "Better to die than to flee but live" -- no, "it is better to die fighting than to live fleeting." Their slogan is "It is preferable to die fighting than to live fleeing." Well, then, the curious thing is that they had a chance to die fighting instead of living and running. It is not the slogan, it is the actions of the counterrevolutionaries. And the situation is untenable, because with all of the campaign which has been waged and organized by the counterrevolutionary press, confusion was created among the counterrevolutionary elements and they went abroad, and there are those who truly believed that this would be difficult. I say to them that the tree shakes down poor fruit of its own accord. The Development of Oil And the situation is such that those who have all these interests opposed to the revolution have no other alternative left, with the steps which have been taken, with the campaigns which have been organized and the mobilizations, with the money which has been spent -- all of these things point inexorably toward aggressions against the revolution. Thus, it is important that the people, whenever it may come, be clearly aware that they cannot go crazy and interrupt what they are doing, nor can production be interrupted, because any difficulty or aggression which must be faced must be dealt with in an orderly fashion and on the basis of a plan. For us, the battle is not won when we repel one invasion or two or twelve. For us, the battle is won when we overcome the economic difficulties, when we succeed in overcoming all the obstacles, because we are being attacked with every weapon. Not only are they going to send mercenaries, but they have imposed an economic boycott upon us. They are creating all kinds of difficulties for us. They are boycotting tourism, and threatening to lower our quota, and using every method to show us that they will try to encircle us with hunger, but after all, we know what this means, because we experienced it in the Sierra Maestra. They are going to try to turn the entire island into a sort of Sierra Maestra, but it is also true that we are planting melanga at full speed, and even, to improve things somewhat, an oil well producing 1600 barrels per day has been developed, and we will continue to prospect until we find al the oil we need, but we must always be prepared for what is most difficult. If that does not come, at least we are prepared and if we are prepared for the most difficult, we are prepared for what is easy. The people of Cuba must be in complete combat readiness. The counterrevolutionaries over there do not count here. Those who proceed with their little campaigns and play the role of traitor as they are doing now against the interests of the fatherland, those who do the best for themselves they can, know like our people what is here. We are clear about this and we know that the true people will defend the revolution to their last drops of blood. Here it is known that there are economic difficulties. Let them continue their "high life," all of these people who spend for luxuries. Or else they must prepare to wear cotton clothing, to drink Cuban local water, to consume Cuban products and to sacrifice luxuries. They must know that when economic difficulties result from the campaigns they are waging against Cuba, we will not sacrifice the local peasants or take his foodstuffs away, nor the tractor fuels. We take fuel from the Cadillacs before we do from the factories. There they continue with their game and their little campaigns, because when the time comes to make sacrifices, the first thing is necessary to sacrifice here is luxuries and surplus. After all, I know how the local people live and I know how the sugar workers and other workers in the country live, and I know that they do not use Paris perfumes, they do not dress in silks or laces, I know that they do not smoke American cigarettes and that they do not spend on luxuries. I know what a humble family consumes, and we have figures on this, for this reason we have the figures and when the time comes for restrictions, it is for this reason, too, that we have Che in the National Bank. Who was it who was concerned when w appointed Che as President of the National Bank? Certainly it was not the native people, the sugar workers or the humble peasants. Those who were concerned undertook to wage campaigns against Che, to slander him and to question his thinking, and to belittle his extraordinary merits. They attempted to make him into a phantom, and they did so, not for the people but for themselves. Now when they speak of Che they are frightened. They frightened themselves with the very phantom they created. First, they created the phantom and then they were frightened and it is obvious who it was the other day who went to withdraw paper currency from the bank -- paper! They went to take "their paper" from the bank, because money is money when there is an economy, when there are monetary reserves, and there are the measures we ourselves are taking, defending the reserves. And obviously, if there is no economy, if there are no reserves, the money is only paper, but these gentlemen believed ... some of them went with the hope of withdrawing paper money from the bank. If they take "their paper" from the bank, we will turn out new paper. This means nothing. There they can engaged in counterrevolutionary maneuvers, taking the money from the bank. All that is needed is to order the printing of new money. If this happens, here, no sugar worker will lose a cent, because it is certain that no sugar worker has a bank account. Thus, in the final an*lysis they should not imagine that any indignation is that of the people. If they had a little more common sense, they would sleep tranquil, certain that we are not going to touch their "paper." On the contrary, in defending our economy, in defending our reserves, we are guaranteeing the value of the paper, and she was put there precisely to strengthen our effort to defend our economy and defend our reserve, such that they have value, the paper money. But if they commit the madness of engaging in counterrevolutionary campaigns, taking their paper from the bank, the only ones to suffer will be themselves. Possibly there are even some ungrateful ones who will not thank me for this advice I am giving them. Organization of Internal Tourism But it is good that they should know that paper will serve to purchase Cuban products, because paper will not serve to buy foreign luxury products, and the longer they waged campaigns against tourism in Cuba, the more resorts we will build, because now we have a tax on alcoholic beverages and we are investing this in tourist centers and public beaches. But there are centers where the people will be able to go, there are centers as good or better than those of the millionaires. However, they are not for millionaires, but for the people. The millionaires will be able to go, too, if they want, but these are for the people. They say that while we are here, well, they will wage the campaign boycotting tourism, but it does not matter. Nor does the little bit of money which foreign people spend here. Let them spend here, let all come who wish, let them come here, because after all Cuba has very precious things which it takes time develop and neither a year, nor five years, will be enough to enjoy the delicious things which Cuba has and which we are preparing to be within the reach of all. For this reason, for the time being, we are cutting short foreign exchange, for those who are seeking dollars to get out, we are cutting exchange short, but it does not matter, for on the other hand we are organizing tourism, that is to say, a chain of marvelous tourist centers with the advantage that they will be within the reach of all the people. Thus the paper money will have to be invested here, and in national products. In Cuba we are producing even more true marvels. Did you see how La Marina protested when we established the surcharge on imports? Because as a result of this, the small number of products which were being needlessly imported, will begin to be produced here, providing more work, and more life for the country, because for the first time in the history of our country, there is a policy protecting our products and natural industry which never existed before. Indeed, industry in Cuba was languishing, always awaiting protection! It could not resist foreign dumping! It could not resist dumping! And now there is no dumping which crosses the protective trench which we have established for national industry! And this is the situation. We must continue an*lyzing these things. We must defend our products and save our foreign exchange to invest it, gentlemen, not in Paris perfumes or in Cadillacs. We must invest it in tractors and in machinery and, naturally, in the things in which we must invest, raw materials for industry, fuel, the essentials. We cannot exchange the sugar which you produce, we cannot exchange it for rice or for perfumes. What is paid us for this sugar you produce must be invested in machinery, because if we do not invest it in machinery we will not progress, and this is a senseless thing which has been done here. While five million were spent on tractors and agricultural machinery, 35 million were spent on automobiles, and this was madness. The land went uncultivated and the people were dying of hunger. This was senseless. And if, gentlemen, if it is necessary to make sacrifices, and if the humble workers who are laboring three months a year surrender 4%, the comfortable families here can easily sacrifice a little of their luxuries to the benefit of the people who are making greater sacrifices. Thus, the more they press against the revolution, the harder we will press ourselves, and the more they try to blockade us, the more drastic the measures we will take here will be. We are not by any means painted into a corner! Let them know it, that there is a people and an army ready here to take steps. For they believe that they will intimidate the revolutionary government and the people, and they do not know that what they are going to do is strengthen it. The more measures they take, the harder we will try here, and the people will make sacrifices, but the greater sacrifices will be made first of all by those who have been enjoying a very comfortable life and those who have been enjoying luxuries. Institutions to Defend What Is Cuban Che -- so that no one will be deceived -- Che is not here to engage in any rash action. Che is here just as when we sent him to Las Villas to prevent the enemy troops from reaching Oriente. I sent him to the National Bank to prevent the outflow of exchange, and so that the resources we have in exchange can be invested correctly. The people already know that when it is necessary to sacrifice, we first sacrifice the luxuries, because it does not matter that some have to sacrifice some luxuries here when the peasants, for example, of the Zapata Swamp and Guanschacabibes and elsewhere had neither homes nor food, nor even a pan to cook in, nor shoes nor medicines, because they have many things which they did not have before. First we are going to resolve all the basic problems of the people's life. We are going to give bread to those who are hungry, and after that there will be time for luxuries. When everyone can purchase Paris perfumes too, and nobody is suffering from hunger, and when we already have machinery and factories and equipment and all that, then we can spend on luxuries. I believe that this is clear. Everyone understands this and it is clear. Thus, we are all clear in our minds here. Let them shout to the heavens or to Washington -- for that is where they will go to wail to Uncle Sam. They will go to complain there. We know this. This is a people which is aware, which is on its fee, which knows that it has to do and it is going to do it. All the rest is water under the bridge, all the rest, all the campaigns and all the accusations of communism and all these things are water under the bridge. I have said "that it will be history which will judge us," "that the landlords will not come to judge us, that this revolution is our revolution, that it is a radical revolution, a social revolution, and we have not deceived anyone," because I said this before the first shot was fired here. But it is our revolution, our Cuban revolution, these are our laws, our measures, our institutions to defend what is Cuban. Who can accuse us of not having pa**ionately and devotedly defended what is Cuban, the interests of our people? Can they claim that the government did not recover any land? That the government did not safeguard the interests, the wealth of the country? What government has ever pursued a policy to the benefit of the country like the revolution is doing? Thus it is a thing about which no one has doubts. The foreignizers are those who speak English, who no longer even speak Spanish. The foreignizers are those who are defending pro-foreign monopolies. The foreignizers are those who are urging foreign powers to come here to defend their privileges. About this we are clear. All the rest is water under the bridge. We have nothing but a single party. Cuba! Cuba! We have but a single idea and a single flag. Cuba! Cuba! And we have a sole purpose: to aid the people, to achieve a happy destiny for our people. This is what we are doing, as opposed to those who are sold out to foreign interests, those who defend the interests of the privileged, those who are sold out to established interests. We are dedicated to the people. And they can no longer deceive us however much they write and talk, they cannot confuse us. There is no need -- the people did not go to the university, but they attended the school of life, the school of hunger and pain, and there they learned and they are not going to be deceived, they are not going to be hindered, because what they want is to hinder the people, this is what they want -- to confuse them, destroy them, divide them, sow doubt and division, to weaken them in order to trip them, and we will see if after all our people have suffered, after all they have dreamed of having an honest government one day, a government defending the people, a government which would put an end to all the injustice, all the petty politicking, which would do away with corruption, immorality, vice and all the evils from which their country has suffered, if they can be confused. Something New Is Invented Every Day We will see if after all the work and all the suffering through which the people have pa**ed to achieve this, they will let themselves be deceived. We will see. This is what they want and what they are thinking is to trip us up again, but they will not do so, because here they will hinder no one. It does not matter what they write. We will let them write. For this reason, we can speak to the people, because previously they alone spoke. They alone. There was no one to speak to the people, but now, no, now we are in competition. Now they are writing their lies and we are speaking our truths. They are writing their lies and we are doing our work, work which can be seen but about which there has been little propaganda. But the people are seeing them little by little and each day they are more surprised, and above all, the people think of the many difficulties and obstacles which we have had to overcome to advance with this work, and the people are aware, while they are trying to confuse and hinder the people. Every day something new is invented, but they know they are powerless to reach the people, they know that in the hearts of the people they have no place. Indeed, there are certain circles and very aristocratic places where La Marina is read with pleasure and with extraordinary satisfaction, and the curious thing is they deceive themselves. They believe that the indignation of certain aristocratic clubs here is the indignation of the cane settlements. Well, they are different, and their concerns are different, because in the cane settlements nobody ever spent his time pouring himself drinks or playing bridge or canasta or any of these things. In what cane settlement here do they play canasta? Or poker or bridge? And where are the clubs of the cane settlements? They are those we will build ourselves. We are going to build them in cooperatives here, in addition to clubhouses, workers' clubs, cooperative members' clubs and the schools. Now, yes, now they will have them. Thus it is that they cannot reach the hearts of the people. It is a battle which is being wages. They are seeking what is foreign, we are seeking what is Cuban. They are seeking foreign resources, we are seeking Cuban resources. They are seeking foreign money in order thus to wage counterrevolution. We are seeking the workers' money to wage the revolution. They are seeking foreign mercenaries, we are training the peasants and the workers, the students and the people. Thus, they fight with their lives and their slanders and their filthy weapons, and we fight with our truths, our morality, our right principles, the justice of the unblemished cause which we are defending. Thus things are clear. It is the struggle of the nation in defense of its destiny and we are going to see who will win, we will see who triumphs, because of one thing we are all sure, and that is that the nation will emerge triumphant. And one thing of which we are certain is that they are not going to be able to destroy the revolution, invent what they may, say what they may, talk through they may talk. And while they promote more aggression, more lies and more boycotts, the revolution will be stronger. They Cannot Tolerate These Workers' Congresses There are things which the enemies of this revolution cannot tolerate. Before, when the workers were here, it was the persecutors who made trips everywhere, obviously they made trips everywhere to avoid attacks upon them. But wherever there was a workers' gathering, they went, watching. They said it was to maintain order, but they went with their boots and their "blackjacks." Why this term? There is a perfectly good word in Spanish. Well, they used the English term "blackjacks" because this is a foreign weapon, a foreign weapon they use to defend foreign interests, and for this reason they use the English word. But they went with their weapons back and forth. Also, in the Military City, with their hostile faces, they were also the army commander and all the others. What they cannot tolerate is these workers' congresses, at which the President of the Republic sits on the rostrum. What they cannot tolerate is that before they knew, all the companies and all these interests knew, that they took their orders from the commander of the army. What they cannot tolerate is these workers' congresses at which the head of the army presides. What they cannot tolerate is these workers' congresses which instead of having persecutors going back and forth watchfully, have the chief of police sitting at the speakers' table with the workers. The commander of the navy is not here now because he is working, but others are here. (Voice from the audience: the Prime Minister is here!) We do not count, we are always here. Now I am speaking simply of the officials present. Raul is not here now, because he is working, but the heads of the regiments are. And then the workers think, now, indeed, we are confident, now, indeed, we are well off. Because before we left here and they were waiting for us with their machetes. This is what the landowners and the great interests wanted, that when the workers left here they were awaited with machetes. What they cannot tolerate is the beautiful spectacle, this complete identification between the people and the government leaders, the people and the military leaders, this fusion between the people and the government, this fusion between the people and the army, because the army is with the people, and the people are the army itself, and the people are training and preparing, they are arming for struggle. We Must Sacrifice To Prepare for the Future It is these things which they cannot tolerate. It is these things which make them ill, and for this reason they wrote "Democracy Made in Moscow," because they cannot tolerate them. They do not say so in Spanish but in English. But do you know why? Because they are not speaking to the Cubans, did you know that? They know that in Cuba English is not spoken, but they speak in English because they are speaking to the Americans. For this reason, they write in English. They are perhaps also speaking in Chinese. Here I think these things are quite clear. We already know of the shortcomings from which we suffer. However, what are we doing with this identification and this force? Are we using them to abuse anyone? No. Are we using them to engage in demagogy? No. Are we going crazy and undertaking to redistribute everything? No. Because we know that that we must do is to produce, to increase our production, to sacrifice ourselves to prepare for the future, because indeed, we would be defeated if we used this identification, this strength, to consume and not to produce. Our problem is to produce, to multiply all production, to raise the standard of living of all, to built many houses, many beaches, to produce more clothing, more food, more of everything, so that the greater production, a larger part, a larger proportional part will go to each family. It is thus that we are making use of this identification, I believe that in view of the fact it is the first year of revolutionary government and in view of the evil left us by the republic, it is something what has been done, it is something the advance we have made. Thus, the republic is advancing marvelously well. There is no other problem but the counterrevolutionaries. There are no strikes, no social conflicts. All the battles are being won. The country is setting an example for the world, and there is no other problem here than those the counterrevolutionaries want to create for us. Thus, our people are an example, our people can give lessons today in democracy, and lessons in social peace and lessons in progress, to those who still have no resolved many of these problems. Workers Should Not Be Concerned About Their Demands These are the things which must be taken into account in evaluating how the country is advancing. Never has there been a greater order in the rural sector. There is no need for a rural guard. Who is ensuring order in the countryside? The native people, it is they who are seeking to order in the countryside. And there is remarkable order, fewer cases of crime than ever. There is absolute and total peace in the rural sector and in the cities, because everyone is alert to defend what is his. Before the problem of maintaining order was that of the landowners. Today the problem of defending order is that of the people, because for the first time the republic is the people, and not a small group. And that fatherland -- for the first time in Cuba we have today what Marti proclaimed -- a fatherland for all and for the good of all. Thus I believe that there is little to be added at this meeting. I must say to the workers that they should not be concerned of the question of their demands which we will discuss here, everything connected with the harvest and overproduction. We are going to discuss the problems here with the Federation in amicable fashion. We are going to discuss the problems and the things which you have outlined and the plans we have for housing for the rural sector, the plans for the city, for the schools, cooperatives, roads, all these are advancing. The plans for tourism. Here we have the Director of the National Institute for the Tourist Industry, Comrade Baudilio Caestellanos, who is with us here. All the plans, because we are forgetting nothing, neither the sports field nor the sports equipment, in a word, we are forgetting nothing. Already you see how we have distributed sports equipment and we are still going to distribute more, until everyone here can engage in sports, and no young person will lack sports facilities even in the most modest Cuban settlement. We are studying, in a word, all that we were never able to have. We will not forget anything within our plans, and we are going to discuss all these pending questions. The pension plan, too. Here we have the President of the Social Security Bank, because all of this is in our plans, for example, the increase in pensions. We are studying a series of revolutionary laws with regard to the laborers, because some thousands are involved in this, and we are studying the question of including all this in the labor legislation -- problems of medical aid, labor accidents, vacations. All of these laws are under study at the Ministry of Labor -- vacations, retirement, the laws which will include all the laboring sectors in the retirement plan, contributions for workers' housing and the employers who should contribute to the construction of the housing. All the laws in favor of domestic employees and their inclusion under social security, such that not a single worker in Cuba will will not be covered by social security services, the retirement plan, pensions, everything. Not only this, but we want to increase the minimum pensions. Possibly we can increase them to 40 pesos as soon as the laws are approved, with the contribution of all. Then we are going to have a plan to increase them annually, such that as we increase goods and services we can continue to increase the portion paid to pensioners. Thus, we will not only cover, but will annually increase if possible, the minimum pensions, and we are going to establish compulsory vacations, such that in all fixed employment a substantial portion of the workers will begin work and there will be no workers who will not enjoy paid vacations, that is to say, this is another important problem, because it affects the question of employment. Not only will we seek employment in agriculture and industry, but we will also seek greater employment by means of the fulfillment of the laws on vacations and retirement, when we have improved income. Also, we said last year that this had been the last year of hunger in the countryside, because when I came and saw and said that the cane was not being properly cleared, I said it was the last year of hunger, because after all, agrarian reform still cannot control this cane and plantings, because the money we have we need for development of promotional crop raising and we do not have sufficient organization. It does not matter, this will be the last year of hunger in the rural sector, and in fact, this is now certain. It is the 16th day of the money, and the last year of hunger has pa**ed. We are finishing up and in the countryside hunger is gone for good. Funds To Be Leant to the Federation In rice alone, there will be 6,000 caballerias more this coming year, and it is extraordinary how the crops we have planned are increasing employment, in addition to the cane cooperatives. In the coming year we must clear the cane fields well, and not only this, but planned development for 1961. As we did not sow this year, we must sow in 1960 not for 1961, but for 1962, and in 1961 we will do the clearing and the fertilizing necessary and sow for 1962. Thus we will have no problems with this matter of clearing. Now, the cane cooperatives will clear thoroughly and will plant the fields, and finally, hunger will have disappeared from the rural sector. And although this year there is no differential, nonetheless the sugar workers have other things in exchange. Not only you have told me that you had a free Christmas Eve, because Comrade Bequer has talked with us about the situation of the workers during this difficult year, and moreover, of the fact that it was possible to have a free Christmas Eve, although no differential. Then he talked to me of a plan to provide not only a free Christmas Eve, but a Christmas Eve dinner as well, and he explained to me, spoke to me about the possibility, of what he would believe to be a possibility of a law ordering an advance to industrial workers of 15 pesos and to agricultural workers of 10 pesos at least for Christmas Eve. Then we decided that we could issue the law, but we are faced with the fact that it has not been approved, while are we seeking it and 20,000 problems have been encountered as to whether it will be approved or not. I have thought, however, of a better solution so that you will not tell us you have no money, finding the money ourselves and lending it to the Federation. Thus we have made a calculation and it would come to some 4 million pesos, and then we thought of the following situation. We are going to try to obtain the four million pesos. We are going to try to find them as an advance for this year, in view of the present date, the 15th, and the fact that although we have reached some agreement with the plantation and settlement people, it cannot be arranged in time. First we must discuss it and there will be considerable conflict, and we are studying this other plan since there is no differential this year. Thus, the National Institute for Agrarian Reform will lend the National Sugar Workers' Federation the four million pesos, and the workers will receive it as an advance. It is not much, unfortunately it is not much, but at least, we are beginning this year and we guarantee at least dinner at home this year, which has been the last year of hunger in the countryside and which will be the year of the free Christmas Eve dinner. And we are going to lend this money so that the workers can have their dinner, and this money which we will lend from the Agrarian Reform Institute will be made up from your harvest income. You will use it and we will invest it. After the harvest is over, this money will be repaid. And we will invest it in agrarian reform, in the plans we have for the year 1960. Thus, as of now you can agree here how you will make the loans, fill out the papers, plans, receipts and whatever is necessary, so that later it can be discounted when you are working. We are not going to collect interest from you, much less from the workers. As we, as the Agrarian Reform Institute, have had to invest many millions in corn, coffee and the promotion which is being done, and we were temporarily without resources, I just today, before coming here, made contact with Comrade Diaz Azterain, Minister for the Recovery of Goods, to ask him how much there was in the fund. Then, fortunately, I learned that there were funds to lend us, to give to us, because the recovery money, you know, goes to agrarian reform, and thus we can invest it. Then I called and arranged for four million of the recovery funds to be sent to us and this is what we are going to lend to the Federation. Thus, you will have another satisfaction, not only a free Christmas Eve, but one with a dinner, and also we are going to lend you the money recovered from those who mishandled it so that this will be the best dinner ever. This is the news. I know that it is very modest, but it will be very honorable and an effort consistent with our current resources in this year when there is no differential. We hope that year by year, then, the Christmas Eve dinner will be better. And we will discuss the other things here, including matters pertaining to overproduction and the conditions of the harvest, all of this year, and all of your suggestions on all these things which you believe you need, in addition to the many plans which we are making too, among them, that for housing. (Someone in the audience asked for a moment of silence in memory of Camilo Cienfuegos.) (A minute of silence was observed.) Many thanks. It is truly said that I was not able to bring here today, because I attached it to the case file, the report Comandante Camilo Cienfuegos sent me from Las Villas, and the moving words in which he told of that meeting of the sugar workers on the Northern Front in Las Villas, and which I had occasion to read yesterday at the trial of the counterrevolutionary plot perpetrators in Camaguey. He told, in truly impressive terms, of the emotion he felt at that meeting, where hundreds of sugar workers inspired words which I hope to be able to read at another congress. For the rest, and to conclude first of all, our thanks for this large attendance despite the hour. Support of the Peasants and the Workers We reaffirm our sympathy for and the confidence we have in the sugar workers. I hope that I will never have to lose an opportunity to attend a Federation Congress, because that gathering was a memorable one at which the first revolutionary outlines were set forth, and thus the sugar workers federation, the largest, has also become one of the most organized, the most united, the most combative, in the vanguard of the National Workers' Federation, and it is one moreover in which industrial and agricultural workers are mixed, that is to say, the factory workers and the native farmer. This is a native federation. It is a true blending of the peasants and the workers, because in no other vector are the worker and the peasant so merged as in this federation, which is like a reflection of the revolution, which is the close union of the workers and the peasants, and along with them, the rest of the people. Thus, we are confident. The revolution is confident, because it is advancing with a firm step and it is supported by the strong arms of our peasants and our workers. It has been many days since we spoke to the people, and it makes us very happy to have been able to do so on this occasion in the Congress of the Sugar Workers. I hope that all the rest of the delegates present here, if they have been able to resist sleep somewhat, and I am certain that a large have, have also listened to our statements here. Another year of revolution approaches. This has been the first year. The year of identification, the year of initiation, the year of organization. The coming year is approaching and the revolution is advancing in full swing, entering this second year organized and in full creative work. That is to say, we lost time in the early months of the first year, in the months of organization, but the revolution is going into its second year with tremendous impulse, and we hope that the second year of revolution will be a still more fruitful one than the first, and that we will advance not only more organized, but stronger. We are not beginning the second year as in those first days when we were all mixed up together, the true revolutionaries and the counterrevolutionaries. This time we are together, but we are not mixed up. Those who are with the revolution as the year ends, now that it is know that this is a true revolution, are true revolutionaries. And those who are with us now, those who will be us as the second year of the revolution begins, are those who will be with us to the end. Now there will no longer be disagreements or resignations for reasons of jealousy, and those who are with us can count on each other, as we know we can count on who our enemies are. And despite all the revolutionary laws and the disagreements, the revolution has tremendous force. I recall that I said one day at the beginning that the revolution, the strength of the revolution would diminish in extent, but would increase in depth. The strength of the revolution is much greater, since those who are with it are truly persuaded, not merely sympathizers as on the first day. Instead they are ready to die for it, and the next year will be a year of struggle. Almost without fear of error I can dare to say that the next year will be a year of struggle and that we will have to shed blood, that our people will have to shed their blood to defend their revolution. Unfortunately, it is us: soldiers and citizens will have to fall defending our work. And we will have to deal with attacks. Thus, all those who at the beginning believed that everything has been done, those who believed superficially that the revolution is completed simply with the conquering of the military forces of the dictatorship, that everything was already finished -- those who believed this and even were sorry they could not have done more -- will see that the revolution was not completed, battle ended. This was the struggle against the armed forces of the tyrant. We destroyed the army, but the privileges remained intact. On 1 January the military dictatorship fell, but the privileges of those who supported this dictatorship remained intact. The war ended, the armed military struggle, and the revolutionary struggle against the privileges, a longer struggle a harder struggle, began. And the privileged persons, who no longer have armed armies in the country, will organize and train armies of mercenaries. Those enjoying privileges never resign themselves to a revolution. Those with privileges unite and reorganize and, in particular, there is one fact which has never failed to appear in the history of revolutions. That is that the privileged, when they do not have a force to defend them within the country, seek foreign aid to reestablish thee privileges, and this law has never failed to operate in the history of the revolution. Those who enjoyed privileges will arm armies again -- it will not be the so-called army of the republic because that was destroyed, but they will arm mercenary armies to try to reconquer power. And this is a law which never fails in revolutions. And all that you have seen this year, all these campaigns, all these plans, all these maneuvers, are designed for the same purpose -- to prepare the conditions for counterattack. They Will Have To Fight The People On the first, a revolutionary battle ended, but this will not be the only battle. As in war, after one battle comes another, and after that, yet another, and thus on 1 January, a battle ended. The enemies retreated as we retreated into the Sierra Maestra after a defeat, but he will return to the attack. I recall that we had to fight off some five offenses, and then the defeated enemy retreated toward foreign coasts. But the enemy regrouped and reorganized. After all, that army was organized to defend the privileged, the great interests. With one army destroyed, the major interests and those with important privileges are organizing new armies. They are not resigned or satisfied, because they never resign themselves. They were not satisfied with the bombs they dropped. They were not satisfied with the planes they use to machine gun us. They are buying more equipment, and I have not the slightest doubt that we will again have to face bombings and we will have to deal again with battles, and we will have to face bloodshed, because on the first a battle was won, but the revolution must wage other battles, because at no time in history and in no revolution in the world have the established interests and the privileged persons who were defeated resigned themselves without attempting to win power back. And in this coming year, 1960, they will try to regain power, or that is, they will make an effort, perhaps not the last. They will do it, and we, following our norm of always guiding the people, -- as we did in war, speaking the truth to them, explaining things, because we have nothing to hide -- we are telling you that they will try, because they have many millions, much support, many interests behind them, many resources, and many campaigns abroad and here encouraging them. And in the coming year, I am certain that we will have to defend the revolution with weapons in hand. And I say this without fear of being mistaken. Would that I were mistaken, but we can neither blind nor deaf to the teachings of history. They will come, of this I am certain, as I am also certain that we will annihilate them. And these are the facts, almost fatal facts, because they are inevitable facts. All of you have seen the generosity with which the revolution applies its powers. All have seen that we have reestablished the revolutionary courts, but we have been generous, and our courts have applied the law with great magnanimity, great equanimity. They have made very generous use of the authority they have, although we do not believe because of this that the courts, on occasion, may not have to make full use of all their authority. Because to date there have been plots, plans for invasions and small uprisings, and the promoters have even been caught by the native people themselves, conspiracies, betrayal, counterrevolutionary plans -- but there has been not bloodshed. For this reason the revolutionary courts have been able to be generous. This was generosity which the enemies of the fatherland cannot expect if the blood of our soldiers and our peasants, our workers and our people, must be shed another time. We have been moderate, because this did not harm, this benefited the revolution, because it strengthened its morality, because the blame will never be ours. We will never to to excesses. But it would be said if this confused the minds of the counterrevolutionaries, because the attitude with which the nation will punish the invaders who come again to bloody our land will be a more harsh attitude, and those who come should know that they will have to fight a people who are ready to die. But also, the invaders will have to fight to the last drop of blood once they set foot on Cuban territory, because once they come here to establish the hateful and infamous system of the past, they will have to be prepared to die fighting or to die before the firing squads.